Computer Education Priorities of Farmers

Several authors predicted that microcomputers would have the type of impact during the 1980s that tractors had on farms during the 1940s. Many of these authors also made optimistic predictions that farmers would readily adopt microcomputers ( Beasley, 1983; Legacy, Stitt, & Reneau, 1984; Levins & Walden, 1984; Siitler, 1984; Sonka, 1983). A sparse research base, however, makes it difficult to judge the accuracy of these predictions. In this regard, Yarbrough and Scherer (1984) concluded, "...the innovation of on-farm computers is diffusing, although at a modest rate. The rate, however, is about what we should expect of a relatively complex technology” (p. 17). Yarbrough (1987) later concluded that more than half of farmers will never adopt computers.